Night Flight
by Animation Adventures
Summary: After the events of Moonvasion, Della can't sleep one night. To clear her head, she takes the Sunchaser out for a fly. Launchpad goes along with her as a comforting friend.


Night Flight

Disclaimer: I do not own DuckTales, or anything associated with it. It all belongs to Disney.

"You didn't have to come."

Launchpad looked at Della when she said that, and then he shrugged, leaning back in the co-pilot's seat. "I know, but I wanted to come." He let that sink in, let her realize he cared. "So, why'd you want to go on a night flight?"

Della sighed, evidently hoping Launchpad wouldn't pry. "The invasion from Penny's people really shook me up. Before I got stranded on the moon, when something rattled my head, I would go out on flights at night. Just me, the Cloudchaser, and a steady, clear night helped sort out whatever was bothering me."

Seeing the logic made sense for his fellow pilot, Launchpad nodded. "I get that. That was crazy. It was cool helping stop the moon rocket, though."

"It wasn't cool for me." Della breathed heavily, trying to push the fear-inducing thoughts away. "Aliens that I thought were my friends invaded my home planet because a psycho general lied to them, they wanted to hurt all four of my kids, I nearly got stranded again on an island, and if it weren't for Penny making that insanely risky dive with her ship into his engine, we would've died."

"But you survived," Launchpad said helpfully, an ever optimistic smile on his beak. "That counts for something." Seeing her shoulders slouch at his attempt to be positive, he changed tactics. "Level with me. At the very core of all this, what's the problem? I want to help."

Della stayed quiet, making Launchpad wonder if she didn't want to answer, or if she was trying really hard to find an answer for him. After a few minutes of quiet flying, he learned it was the second one.

"All of this is my fault. If I hadn't taken that stupid Spear out for a test run, Lunaris probably wouldn't have been able to put together rockets for the invasion. I wouldn't have missed the boys' first decade of life. Uncle Scrooge and Donald wouldn't have fallen out of contact. Webby could've grown up with the boys instead of all alone. It's my fault. All of it."

Launchpad saw the tears begin to fall from her eyes, and he immediately hopped out of his chair to comfort her. Flipping the switch for the auto-pilot, he wrapped his muscular arms around the other pilot.

"Hey, it's okay. It's okay," he whispered softly in her ear as she quietly sobbed into his chest. "You heard what Mr. Dee and your friend said. That Luna guy was planning the invasion before you got there."

"But it's because of me that he was able to speed up his plans," she protested, pulling away so she could speak. "I gave him the plans for the Spear of Selene so he and the Moonlanders could follow me. If I didn't, maybe the invasion wouldn't have happened. At least, not yet."

Launchpad thought for a moment. She did have a point about potentially speeding up Lunaris's plot. But, he didn't think she deserved to beat herself up over it. It was just bad luck that her act of kindness was used for evil intent. Wait, bad luck…

"Maybe… maybe you were supposed to give him the plans for your rocket?" Launchpad suggested.

Sniffling, Della looked up at him. "What?"

"Yeah, maybe that was supposed to happen." Launchpad thought of what he knew about the McDuck family's luck, and ran with it. "I mean, if the invasion happened later, maybe we wouldn't have been able to stop them then. Think about it. The invasion happened, you tried to take the kids to someplace safe, you found Mr. Dee, met up with your cousins, and they helped get general guy's rocket back into space so you, Mr. Dee, Mr. McDee, and the kids could stop him, which stopped the invasion. All that might not have happened if you hadn't given him those plans."

"You think so?" Della asked, starting to understand what he was saying. Between Uncle Scrooge being him, Donald's infamous bad luck, and Gladstone's equally infamous good luck, their family had a strange way of things either not working out for them, or working out in their favor.

"Yeah."

Thinking it over as Launchpad told her to, Della realized the most important part of the whole chain of events. "Donald would still be stranded on that island if the invasion hadn't happened when it did…"

"There you go!" Launchpad beamed at her, seeing that she wasn't crying anymore and was shifting to a better mindset. "And, if it didn't happen until later, Mr. McDee might not have gotten everyone's help he needed to stop it."

"That's true," she agreed. Though she believed her uncle could stop an alien invasion on his own, considering who he was, it never hurt to have help.

"And it's not like you knew the general was going to use your plans for bad reasons," Launchpad added. He paused for a moment, and stared at her sheepishly. "Uh, you didn't know-?"

"No, of course not!" She answered swiftly before he could finish his question.

"Right, sorry," Launchpad apologized, his beak turning slightly red out of embarrassment. "But, see? You didn't know, and it's not your fault."

Coming off her quick heat of indignation, she grasped what he was trying to get through to her. "You're… you're right. While it is my fault for taking the Spear ahead of time, it isn't my fault that Lunaris played us all." She reached over, and hugged the other pilot. "Thanks, Launchpad."

"Any time," Launchpad reciprocated the hug, and once it was finished, he settled back down in the co-pilot's chair. "So, ready to head home and get some sleep? When you live with Mr. McDee, Mr. Dee, Mrs. B, and the kids, a regular day can be quite the adventure. Even more than the actual scheduled adventures."

Laughing at Launchpad's accurate description of life with her family, Della flicked off the auto-pilot to regain control.

Putting her hands on the wheel, she replied with a bright smile, "I think that sounds like a great idea."

The End


End file.
